And your Perl meditation is? Most books that come out within a few months
of the new year are published as copyright for the new year. As for the
example files, that seems a issue to raise in a review not a
meditation. Lastly, many O'Reilly books do not have animals on the cover,
what's your point?

It's an O'Reilly book called Spidering Hacks. I didn't want to put such an incomplete review in the review section. If the names of the sections here were designed more for usability than cuteness, I probably would have been able to find a more appropriate section.

I have O'Reilly's catalog, and except for the books in the hardware, humor and digital media sections, just about all have animals on the cover. I'd say about 95%. Mine should too. It makes me sick.

RULE #1

Use the chatterbox and talk to folks before you post
something like this again. Ask questions. "Where should i
post a node about X?" I am sure that you have been told
"DON'T DO IT MAN!!!" and you would not have been downvoted so harshly.

RULE #2

Do not disrespect this site in a post. First off, this site was designed for usability. I use it all the time just fine and
see nothing "cute" about any of it. Secondly, you didn't
build this site, nor are you a member of pmdev. In my
mind, you really haven't even earned the right to complain
about this site yet ... but thankfully vroom runs this
site and not me. ;)

RULE #3

Don't complain to us in a Meditation! Complete and post
that review! I am sorry that you don't like the book,
but why didn't you just wait until you completed your review
and discuss this there. A good review needs pros and cons,
this would be so much more appropriate there.

RULE #4

Do not title your post the name of a book, module, etc. You are level 4. You should know by now how the
search mechanism works at this site. You should include the
name of the book or module, but you should also include
text that describes how the book or module relates to your
post. The name by itself should be reserved for a Review
or possibly even a Tutorial.

RULE #5

Don't let this get you down. We still love you. :)

I do hope that you complete your review and post it
accordingly. Your gripes are very valid, it's just the
way in which you present them that could have been less
negative and more constructive.

I could understand if you think my post belongs in the Reviews section, but Perl Monks should welcome that type of post, somewhere, without it being a more complete book review. Someone might be thinking of buying Spidering Hacks at the end of 2004, thinking it might have just come out, which would increase the chances of the hacks still working and of there being no more recent book out there. If the copyright notice was consistent with copyright law, O'Reilly would make fewer sales. I want to expose the fraudulent business practices of O'Reilly as well as help consumers. You say that my gripes are very valid at the same time you tell me you want even more before I post them. Can't you just be satisfied that valid gripes regarding a Perl book are being expressed without requiring more?

Your gripes are very valid, it's just the way in which you present them that could have been less negative and more constructive

The first post in this thread was about as positive as such a gripe could be. Want explicit constructiveness? Ok...O'Reilly should follow copyright law, place the link to the code in a more obvious place, such as within the chapters for which there is online code available, and all code in the book should be made available online or on CD for those who've bought the book (which chromatic was nice enough to assist with).

Ada Lovelace for the palindrome
Albert Einstein for having smelly feet
Alfred Nobel for his contribution to battlefield science
Burkhard Heim for providing the missing link between science and mysticism
Claude Shannnon for riding a unicycle at night at MIT
Donald Knuth for being such a great organist
Edward Teller for being the template for Dr. Strangelove
Edwin Hubble for pretending to be a pipe-smoking English gentleman
Erwin Schrödinger for cruelty to cats
Hedy Lamarr for weaponizing pianos
Hugh Everett for immortality, especially for cats
Isaac Newton for his occult studies
Kikunae Ikeda for discovering the secrets of soy sauce
Larry Wall for his website
Louis Camille Maillard for discovering why steaks taste good
Marie Curie for the shiny stuff
Nikola Tesla for the cool cars
Paul Dirac for speaking one word per hour when socializing
Richard Feynman for his bongo skills
Robert Oppenheimer for his in-depth knowledge of the Bhagavad Gita
Rusi P Taleyarkhan for Cold Fusion
Sigmund Freud for his Ménage ā trois
Theodor W Adorno for his contribution to the reception of jazz
Wilhelm Röntgen for the foundations of body scanners
Yulii Borisovich Khariton for the Tsar Bomba
Other (please explain why)